Nipponica

A group of four high school students recently received letters of thanks from police here after helping a woman who was being harassed by a stranger.

According to the students, they spotted what appeared to be a couple arguing on the street at the JR Kisarazu Station east exit on the evening of May 26. Because the 20-year-old woman appeared bothered, they asked her what was going on, to which she replied that she didn't know the man. They intervened between her and the man to stop her from being harassed. The group also surrounded the 38-year-old man so that he would not run off and asked a passerby to call the police. The man was subsequently arrested on suspicion of engaging in indecent acts without consent.

This is just one of those stories that you need to see more of in a country (or world, for that matter) that seems to encourage people to ignore those around us. Good that they stepped up and hope their actions spur others to help those in need.

Regarding the expulsion, the university stated that the students had "disturbed university order and acted against the duties of a student." The administration explained that "participating in the anti-war protest with a banner without submitting the required event notification and off-campus name usage permission created the appearance of an official university activity." Concerning the tuition fee protest, the university stated that "despite clarifying there would be no fee hike, the protest caused unnecessary anxiety and confusion among students and their guardians."

Typical Japan, death by bureaucracy. The student's argument is much more tangible.

One of the former students remarked angrily, "Is it the role of an academic institution to use authoritarian power to suppress inconvenient truths? This is an unacceptable act of censorship." Nishizawa explained, "For university administrators to tamper with mail addressed to individuals undermines the reliability of the postal system. It constitutes censorship and infringes on the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression." The ex-students are considering filing criminal charges, including violation of Article 263 of the Penal Code for concealment of letters.

A psychiatric evaluation of the man accused of fatally shooting former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has determined him mentally fit to be held criminally responsible for his actions, sources close to the matter said Wednesday.

He had a clear stated motivation to commit the murder from the start and never wavered from it. He knew exactly what he was doing. And the government actions against the Unification Church after the fact also show that his motivation to commit this crime was based in some realm of reality.

Kazuya Saito, a 34-year-old Tokyo resident, admitted to the theft, with police quoting him as saying, "Collecting women's uniforms is my hobby. I smelled it and wore it myself."